


All These Things That I've Done

by jaegersaint



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Professor!Levi, implied past relationship, photographer!eren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 03:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2413337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaegersaint/pseuds/jaegersaint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the last ten years Eren has been constantly on the move, but an unexpected meeting forces him to stop and look back at his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All These Things That I've Done

The first morning of his trip, entirely on a whim, Eren heads out of his hotel room and goes for a stroll through the park across the street.

It happens like most things of this nature do: quietly, without warning, something that never would have been had he decided to head for the cafe down the road instead.

As it is, the man seated on the park bench looks up, and their eyes meet. Eren recognises the half second it takes him to reach through a decade-wide chasm in his head, and then his expression shifts into something that looks as shocked as Eren feels.

"Kid, you got taller."

"Oh I don’t know. You sure it’s not you who shrank?" He shoots back, smiling.

"Still a shit, I see. Come here, let me get a better look at you," the man replies, and Eren moves to sit beside him.

"I gotta say, New York never struck me as your kind of place. Weren’t you all about seeing the world? Expanding your horizons and all that? You never could stay in a place for long," the man continues. His lips are barely upturned, but Eren can see the familiar spark of amusement in his eyes.

"Ah, actually I’m here for work. Gotta wrap up a few shoots and then hopefully I’ll be in Ibiza by New Year’s Eve," Eren replies, just a little playful.

The man scoffs. “So basically you’re the same old brat, you just get a bigger playground now.” He sounds every bit as snide as he did ten years ago, and Eren is only a little surprised to find it still sends his insides aflutter.

"Pretty much. What was it that you said about me having to wise up some day?"

Levi looks at him, looks him right in the eyes, like he’s searching for something. He takes a deep breath, and so does Eren, and then he’s shaking his head and laughing, and what can Eren do but laugh along with him?

"You’re really something else, Eren."

He studies Levi’s face as they talk. In the mid-morning sun he can see the slight crinkles around his eyes, the flecks of silver running through his dark hair. Levi is older, but not diminished. The uncertainty is all gone, replaced by an assuredness he wears with quiet confidence. Seeing him like this, Eren’s heart seizes up with a sort of joyful longing that makes it difficult to breathe.

"And how’s life treating you? I would try to be subtle and let you bring up the ring yourself, but I’ve no idea when I’ll see you again, so."

Eren knows he can’t afford to spend a single sleepless night over Levi anymore. He _has_ changed, after all: he may not be wiser, but he likes to think he’s better at picking his battles, now.

Levi looks down, splays the fingers of his left hand across his lap.

"You were never one for beating round the bush, either. You remember Petra, don’t you? She was a colleague of mine at the university."

"Strawberry blonde hair, pretty eyes, mad keen on you even when you wouldn’t give her the time of day? The poor woman deserved better," Eren says as mournfully as he can.

Levi smiles and nods. “Yeah, yeah she did. I’ll probably spend the rest of my life making it up to her, at this rate.”

That’s just like Levi, Eren thinks, to deal with love in the same dutiful way as he does everything else in his life. Levi was like the moon on a winter’s night, cold and unknowable, and Eren, in his flighty youth, couldn’t find it in himself to bridge the gap between them, in the end.

Still, this is was a nice surprise, and he’s thankful for it.

"I’m sorry, I’ve got to head back to the hotel soon, this was only meant to be a quick break. But would you mind if I—?" Eren asks, raising his polaroid for Levi to see.

"I’m not much to look at, but you already knew that, so sure, go ahead."

Eren snaps the photo, and the polaroid spits it out seconds later. He shakes it a few times, then calls Levi over to have a look.

"You’re smiling. You always do, when I take your picture. That’s why I do it every chance I get."

"Hmm."

"Well, I’d better get going. Thanks for that, Levi. I’ll see you around?"

"Sure thing."

Eren turns and walks. For a moment he thinks about asking Levi for his number, but it feels wrong, so he doesn’t.

"Eren."

He pauses, heart in his throat, Levi’s picture still melting to existence in his hand.

"I missed you."

A million possibilities run through his head. He feels like he’s been hoarding words like pennies all these years, tucked away in the folds and creases of his brain. He feels staggeringly heavy, all of a sudden.

"Me too," is all he can manage.

For the first time in ten years, Eren feels his age.

 

 _Another head aches, another heart breaks_  
 _I’m so much older than I can take_  
 _And my affection, well it comes and goes_  
 _I need direction to perfection_ _  
_

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't gonna post this considering how short it was, but the bae convinced me to do it, so here it is. The lyrics at the end are from "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers, which basically inspired this whole thing. I hope it was enjoyable, in its own way.


End file.
